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Property Tax Referendum Passes, Senate Comes Back To Harrisburg

With Tuesday’s election results in the books, pundits were either trying to explain the wins as a either Democratic “resurgence” or a Republican “it’s way too early.”

The property tax referendum on the ballot passed with 53.9 percent of the vote. This is important because it will lay the groundwork for shifting local taxes away from property tax to personal taxes, at the very least for residential properties.

Proponents of Senate Bill 76, including Sen. David Argall (R-Schuylkill) its prime sponsor, argued passage of this referendum will make it possible to “pass Senate Bill 76 once and for all.”

The only real winners Tuesday were women, where for the first time Republican and Democratic women candidates swept Pennsylvania’s statewide judicial races.

Women won all six appeals court seats and voters retained two female judges and one male judge-- incumbents still rule.

Democrats made inroads in Southeast Pennsylvania where they won, for the first time in history, two of the five seats on the Delaware County Council. This continues the Democratic march out from Philadelphia into neighboring counties and follows Montgomery County’s swing to the Democratic column in 2007.

A pundit was asked about the impact on the race for Governor and U.S. Senate next year and they replied correctly-- a year is a “lifetime.”

Race For Governor

Jeff Bartos, who had been running for the Republican U.S. Senate nomination, dropped out and then reappeared at Sen. Scott Wagner’s side Thursday to announce he would be teaming up with Sen. Wagner to run as his Lt. Governor.

Candidates for Governor and Lt. Governor usually run independent campaigns, so it was a bit of a new wrinkle.

For those keeping track of the U.S. Senate race, Congressman Lou Barletta, Rep. Jim Christiana (R-Beaver) and perennial candidate Joe Vodvarka are still in, as well as Libertarian Dale Kerns.

Another Republican candidate for Governor Paul Mango launched a series of ads statewide to introduce himself to voters with his tagline “Ready To Serve.”

Meanwhile a political consultant for House Speaker Mike Turzai (R-Allegheny) kept the suspense going this week on whether he’s in or out of the Republican Governor’s race by saying, “By the time people sit down for their Thanksgiving celebration, it will be clear what he intends to do and how he intends to approach it.”

Gerrymandering Cases Move Forward

On November 9 the PA Supreme Court directed Commonwealth Court to go ahead and hear a challenge to Pennsylvania’s Congressional districts on an accelerated schedule asking them for an opinion by December 31.

Senate and House Republicans had urged the court to delay the case until the U.S. Supreme Court could hear the Wisconsin gerrymandering challenge saying the existing maps have been in place since 2012.

In a similar challenge to Pennsylvania’s Congressional districts in federal court, Senate and House Republicans lost a bid to shield its internal communications involving how it prepared the maps from plaintiffs.

Lawsuit To Block Budget Deal

Almost unnoticed this week was a lawsuit filed Wednesday in federal court to block the transfer of $200 million from the Professional Liability Joint Underwriting Association account to the General Fund to help balance the state budget.

This is the second year in a row the General Assembly called for the transfer of funds from the JUA. A JUA lawsuit last year successfully stalled a $200 million transfer and it did not happen in FY 2016-17.

JUA is a nonprofit organization formed by the state as a last-ditch insurer for medical doctors and supported by fees paid by the doctors. JUA argues the money are private funds, not state dollars.

Legislative Accounts Audit

The Legislative Audit Advisory Commission is scheduled to meet November 15 to review and accept the FY 2016-17 audit of legislative accounts. The audit for FY 2015-16, in the middle of the budget standoff, found legislative accounts had a $118 million surplus, at the same time some caucuses were borrowing funds to pay staff.

IFO 5-Year Outlook

On November 16, the Independent Fiscal Office is scheduled to present its 5-year economic and budget outlook report which looks at economic, demographic and fiscal trends that will affect expenditures and revenues over the next 5 fiscal years.

Also coming up in December is the mid-fiscal year revenue, expenditures report-- time passes quickly when you’re in a budget stalemate-- and on December 15 a report on gaming revenues.

What’s Next

With the House deciding to bag session the week of November 13, the Senate is coming back alone to pick up where it left off on issues other than the budget.

The Senate has 9 voting days on its calendar until the end of the year. The House is scheduled to come back on November 20 and has 11 voting days scheduled.

We’ll see what happens.

(Photo: Senate chamber.)

Election Results: Mundy Retains PA Supreme Court Seat, Property Tax Referendum Passes

Election Analysis

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Esack/Olson: What Do Election Results Mean For PA’s 2018 Races?

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AP: PA Democrats See Anti-Trump Zeal In Election Wins

Democrats See Trump Rebuke In Historic Wins In PA Suburbs

Democrats Win Big In Philly Suburbs-- Congress Next?

Op-Ed: Are Philly’s Suburban GOP Congressmen Totally Doomed?

Op-Ed: Democrats, Republicans Take Note: A New Era Has Begun